Brundageba

In the 8 1/2 years we've been here I find that some plants like it in my yard and some don't. The ones that don't get pulled and tossed over into the canyon. We opted vs. grass and have gravel with beds here and there. In those beds are the plants that seem to enjoy our company. Little by little we have a sustainable yard with very little maintenance. That's a Mango tree we bought when it was two feet tall. It's now above our roof top ( 10 ft taller than you see here) and requires yearly pruning. We bought it in 2008 . It blossoms in the windy season and all the young fruit just blow off then bugs get the rest. We've had about 3 good mangoes from it. If you want a fast growing tree but not necessarily mango fruit...this is the one. Looking on it now...we might have made another choice. The pretty cane like maroon looking plant to the left of Bill is a weed. It was pretty at first in front of our house then it took over. Took my husband three days to dig out the root and get rid of it. Still learning !!!! The gravel vs grass ? Yup happy with that choice.

Penny This is a service like non other. In the states a person like Rodny would be a Godsend. I say that because your scenerio is unique and Rodny made a nightmare for you a solution....that HAPPENED ! Go Rodny !!!! You have our vote . Alison and Bill

Yeiks.....I think I'll stay put right here on my veranda looking at the sun slide behind Baru . Hey my taxes are paid and I have nothing to fear. So why do I feel creepy?

Yes...and he has a mighty big pile of it.

"Nothing ventured...nothing gained" At 70 1/2 yr old I am told by my friends and neighbors that I am now too old to be surfing...Hawaiian quality waves. I suppose I could quit now because of the date on my birth certificate. My husband of now almost one half of a decade thinks the same way. We can't stop until we just can't do it anymore. Whether it be the limitation we put on ourselves by our own thinking or those that others seem to feel they need to place on us....nothing ventured, nothing gained ! Keep on trying...don't let age or anything else slow you down. Alison

THAT WAS IT !!!!! A Eureka moment Alison

Excellent posts...I always enjoy your musings Dav. As this blue marble spins, we are all in "it" (...whatever "it" is ) together. Boquete home invasions, San Berny blasters, Boquete charities, bad USA weather and ISIS growing at a menacing pace weezling it's way into our nightmares...on and on...spending the money we don't have then bitching about the taxes we'll need to pay....life. Others have a smaller universe. Marion who struggles to regain her health and strength and a "life" for herself somewhere where she can sleep in peace. She rarely leaves our thoughts for a day. My husband and I have an enormous amount of things to be thankful for. For those things, each other and those who we call friends we go to sleep at night feeling mighty blessed.

I tried my reduced size photo in Google Chrome Got the same error message. Alison [[Template gallery/front/submit/imageInformation is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]

What a blessing Roger followed us and came over here to CL.

I'm sure it will be resolved. Meanwhile inserting photos into the comments section seems to go seamlessly. A nice photo gallery of local Panama pictures will certainly be a plus to the site methinks. I'll keep trying....haven't tried Google Chrome yet...So far what has not worked is: 1. Reducing the size of the photo to well below 700 KB 2. Browsers used Mozilla Firefox & Internet Explorer 3. It would be nice if the IT guys for the site's management could structure the gallery photo installation like it is in the regular comments section. Then I can use a URL and as well resize my pics from Image Shack photo storage account. Alison

Just from 8 3/4 years of living here....speak and understand Spanish if you consider building. If you do not speak Spanish then you might consider a contractor who is bilingual. Trust. Who can you trust?...............construction theft here is big-time and the very guy you trusted might be the very one you shouldn't have. This goes from fronting $ to theft of electric wire by your qualified electrician ( both stories are one's my friends experienced...$8000.00 gone on fronting to the most trustworthy fellow on earth and spools of electric wire in the electrician's duffle ) Many folks here hire a man to watch your site at night. Done assume you can trust that guy either. The details of engineering problems that Dav alluded to are big issues and generally areas that can cause major headaches. Design-in your general home security....whether you decide on window bars, security screens and perimeter walls; IF you are planning to live in a fairly isolated area these things have to be considered here. Even in populated areas...home invasions are a reality here and it will not be going away soon. Building a home here is a daunting task .....expect the road to be rocky.

I reduced the test photo Bud and I have been working with by 50% using your program...inserted the photo into my Browser and tried to upload it into my gallery...it did not work. I ran into the same issue I had with the original photo. An ERROR appears that I sent to Bud. Same same....so size does not matter.

The back of our house has a sun porch. Between it and the main house we have installed roll down ,lock down security closures. They are like the ones you see in malls. Nobody is coming through it. Otherwise we have bars on the windows d alarms all over the place.

I tried to upload a 1.71MB photo from my browser and as well ran into difficulty. This time an ERROR popped up. In a message I tried to copy and paste the error to you and it jammed in there in my message box...mighty wierd. I'm IT illiterate...but trying....sorry OK 700KB size limit would eliminate all the photos in my browser. If I could use my images from Image Shack I could reduce them....but there in no box for that URL entry in the gallery like there is here in this location. Soo as it stands I can not upload photos into my gallery Brundageba. Could before...but not now... .This is the photo. Its the hotel at Santa Catalina where we surf. restaurant, pool and surf 1.71 MB Alison

And violent crimes is a bit different here ( than in the USA ) to a degree. We (elderly foreign settlers) are more the target I feel. Keith Woolford recommended seeing the DVD City of God. It's about youth gangs in the ghettos around Rio in Brazil. It's an eye opener. We saw it last week. These youths are groomed when they are very young. Many of them (if not all) come from poor families and have not had a basic education. The gang gives them a sense of power, control and a sense of being successful at something....belonging. They have an enormous amount of loyalty to their gang, coupled with lethal and dangerous bravado. Life of victims has little meaning to them . This is a very serious problem that needs a multi pronged approach to "solution". Ending this juvenile gang mentality is a struggle there in Brazil but they are meeting with some success. Now is the time for Panama to take a serious hard look at what is happening to this country. Youth gangs with guns is a serious problem. The solution is not easy. I'm talking about solution not merely custody and detainment. The focus has to be on a solution to growing gang mentality. Our sense of it is the country is asleep at the wheel. It can only get worse. Then we leave...I guess. We'll be too old to deal with it and will be all the more the target.

Right now this is our home and we love it. We're not overjoyed with the home invasion violence that strikes us as on the verge of out of control. We ponder that and I guess if push came to shove we would pull up anchor and head back to the states. We always had that option open...

Nope...just the photo itself. I've tried numerous times ...sometimes it works but most recently it jams every time Alison

I submit photos to my gallery and each time it jams at the "Add information step". The loading circle goes forever...finally I just give up. Alison

The cardboard cops would slow us down every time...even knowing they were there. Seeing flashing lights on a car coming from he other direction slows us down every time. Maybe we need to flash our headlights at these fast flyers coming at us when we see them. More speed limit signs sure would be nice. "One-way" signs on the David streets would be a blessing.

Interested in the book. Please let us know the title. I'd like to read it.

What a relief !!!!! Great Thanksgiving Day.